1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an article handling system, especially for an automatic mail sorting machine.
An automatic mail sorting machine generally comprises the following parts:
a supply magazine in which the operator places the mail to be handled, the mail then being taken charge of to be presented to a stacker; PA1 a de-stacker whose function is to separate the letters or similar articles from one another, so as to feed these one by one on to a conveyor system; PA1 a read head associated with a microprocessor and facing the conveyor system so as to identify each letter or piece of mail and to assign it to a storage area corresponding to its final destination, these storage areas pertaining to boxes and/or stackers; PA1 a series of boxes or stackers whose number varies depending the machines which are the recipients of the previously sorted letters, each box or stacker representing a predetermined sort destination.
The present invention more particularly concerns the implementation of a stacker preferably associated with complementary means facilitating the stacker manipulation.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The spread of automatic mail handling has involved the installation of sorting machines at small sorting centers, which are called route sorting centers as well as distribution sorting centers, the distribution sort being the last to be effected before the distribution to the users of the mail. Problems have been encountered in the size of the sorting machines and their space requirements, which has led to efforts to optimize the number of sorting destinations and, in consequence the number of stackers or boxes of the machine. It had been found that a route sort or a distribution sort can be effected by a machine with fewer sorting receptacles than hitherto, provided the number of sorting passes is increased.
The benefit of the machines is then dependent on very good management of usage involving reduction in dead time, avoidance of non-useful handling of mail, reduction in the number of operators, etc. The greatest gain in productivity is to be obtained in the operation of distribution sorting, i.e. during the preparation of the postman's walk. Preparation of the postman's walk implies sorting and ordering the mail in accordance with an order to be strictly observed. The ordering of the mail should correspond to the route actually followed by the postman. Depending on the number of letters to be sorted, the selected method of sorting, the number of destinations previously referred to there is the added factor of ensuring the quality of sorting the mail, implying strict respect for the ordering of the letters during the sorting procedures.
Implementation of these sorting techniques can be effected successfully if the following conditions are observed: keeping place during the presentation of the mail to the interior of each stacker; no mixing of stackers in between the various sorting passes, i.e. at the time of handling the articles of each stacker, both in the supply magazine of the sorting machine and also in the definitive addressing area at the end of the sort.
In other words, the article handling system for implementing the sorting procedures defined above should make it possible to ensure to the full the functions of stacking, of manual transfer from one stacker to another without changing the order of the articles and in an easy manner, and of emptying the stacker into the final receiving box for the mail.